Call for Papers: The Future of Architecture and Urbanism in the Post-COVID Age. Online Conference, January 2021
Presented by the Epidemic Urbanism Initiative
Long before the appearance of COVID-19, the urban fabric of cities across the world had been shaped by prior epidemics. Indeed, the study of historic, global epidemics has illuminated the many ways in which urban life and architecture have changed during times of pestilence. With the outbreak of each epidemic has come new scientific understandings of disease, new modes of governing of social life and interaction, novel efforts to intervene in and prevent infection, the exacerbation of social inequities, and the creation of new occupational and social roles. Each of these outcomes has been enacted and emplaced in the built environment over time and across diverse geographies through the design or re-design of buildings and public spaces, the quarantine or redirection of goods and people, the adoption of new social roles, and the imposition of new urban design policies and practices.
Now, almost a year into the COVID-19 global pandemic, we can take stock of the impacts of this pandemic on cities and begin to imagine a post-COVID urban landscape. These ideas in mind, for its fourth conference, the Epidemic Urbanism Initiative (EUI) seeks papers that explore the present and future implications of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Papers may be submitted for the following five tracks:
- Response and Experience
- Design and Interventions
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Education and Pedagogy
- Environment and Sustainability
See the full call for papers for the extended description of these tracks.
Submissions should be no longer than 250 words and must clearly speak to one of the above categories, be centred on a case study or a geographic location, and engage the built environment in some way. Proposals also should be forward-looking, but rooted in evidence-based and empirical observation, and could engage a range of methods including literature reviews, empirical studies, pedagogical experiments, historical research, interviews, or artistic production. Submissions are encouraged from across the world and from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to architecture, urban planning, landscape, public health, social work, medicine, art and design.
Please send your proposal and a short, 2-page CV to Drs. Mohammad Gharipour and Caitlin DeClercq at epidemicurbanism@gmail.com by Friday, 5 December 2020.
This virtual conference is sponsored by the AIA Design & Health Research Consortium (DHRC).